Harvard Ethics Consultation Skills Course

This course is no longer offered.

The Harvard Ethics Consultation Skills Course was a one-of-a-kind immersive course aimed at providing attendees with practical skills in performing ethics consultations. This program, led by clinical ethics faculty from Harvard-affiliated hospitals, provides practical, hands-on skills training and practice in conducting healthcare ethics consults. Intended for those new to performing ethics consultation and those looking for a refresh and/or build upon their current consultation skills, the course utilizes a flipped-classroom model and provide attendees opportunities to improve their skills in such activities as developing the consult question, communicating with consult stakeholders, leading team meetings, and documentation of ethics consults.

Participants attended all four sessions in their entirety (three virtual sessions and one day in person) and fill out a brief post-course evaluation in order to receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the course. Jonathan Marron, MD, MPH, HEC-C and Leanne Homan, RN, BSN, MBE, HEC-C were the course directors. This course integrated both virtual and in-person components to provide attendees with practical, hands-on training and the skills necessary to perform healthcare ethics consultations at a high level. Led by faculty from Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics, the course provided learners with skills and practice in all aspects of healthcare ethics consultation: from developing an ethics question to leading a meeting of stakeholders to documenting the consult, and everything in between.

The course consisted of three virtual sessions and a full-day in-person session in Boston. A "flipped classroom" model was utilized, in which attendees were given readings and other preparatory materials to complete prior to the course sessions, allowing for maximal engagement with faculty and fellow attendees during the virtual and in-person course sessions. During the virtual sessions, attendees honed their skills in all components of ethics consultation, utilizing various engaging modalities including mini-didactic sessions, small group discussions, role-playing, and partnered problem-solving. The in-person session provided a capstone experience for participants in which they could practice the skills they had developed throughout the course in a series of mock ethics consultation activities. The in-person session also included opportunities for connecting and networking with course attendees and faculty, special interest group meetings, and a keynote lecture by Keisha Ray, PhD, the John P. McGovern, MD Professor of Oslerian Medicine and Associate Professor (with tenure) at the McGovern Center for Humanities & Ethics at UTHealth. Professor Ray is a national leader in bioethics, with a particular focus on the interplay between race, social determinants of health, and bioethics.

Patient confidentiality is of utmost importance. Though the course involved immersive, hands-on instruction around clinical ethics cases, all teaching cases were fictional, obtained from publicly-available sources, or fully anonymized in order to maintain patient confidentiality.

Objectives

Following the completion of this course, participants are able to:

  • Understand the ethical assessment and analysis of an ethics consult, and practice applying the relevant knowledge to a case study.
  • Identify and practice the process skills necessary for conducting the different components of an ethics consultation.
  • Recognize key publications and guidance in the field of clinical ethics and how to apply these to real-life ethics consultation.
  • Apply interpersonal skills to various modes of ethical deliberation using simulation-based learning.
Audience

Participants came from a variety of backgrounds:

  • Individuals who participate in ethics committees and/or ethics consultations who wish to hone their skills in all aspects of ethics consultation
  • Those who wish to gain hands-on, personalized training with seasoned healthcare ethics consultants
  • Anyone who has received prior introduction to clinical ethics but wishes to acquire further expertise in ethics consultation, including such areas as fielding the ethics intake, formulating the ethics question, identifying relevant stakeholders, leading team meetings, performing ethical analysis, and ethics documentation
Testimonials

Past participants have said:

  • "Extremely beneficial for those of us who want to pursue a career in clinical ethics, as well as those who participate in ethics in any way."
  • "The boots-on-the-ground experience of the faculty was so beneficial."
  • "This provided very helpful foundational knowledge as well as additional areas of practice to study in my own time."
  • "The balance between theoretical models and practice skills was great."
  • "Very helpful to hear from different faculty at multiple institutions."
  • "The role-playing practice components were so helpful and invaluable."
  • "Incredible. I feel like I'm learning from the best of the best!"
Facilitators

Course faculty included expert clinical ethicists from the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics and Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals, including:

  • Lynne Brady Wagner, MA, CCC-SLP, MRMC, HEC-C; Spaulding Rehabilitation Network
  • Maggi Budd, PhD, MPH, ABPP, HEC-C; Boston VA Healthcare System
  • Alex Cist, MD; Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Leanne Homan, BSN, MBE, HEC-C; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
  • Michael Ieong, MD; Boston Medical Center
  • Kerri Kennedy, MA, BSN, RN, HEC-C; Boston Children’s Hospital
  • Babu Krishnamurthy, MD, MBE; Steward Healthcare, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center
  • Jonathan Marron, MD, MPH, HEC-C; Boston Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
  • Wendy McHugh, RN, MSN, HEC-C; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
  • Elaine Meyer, PhD, RN, MBE; Boston Children's Hospital
  • Aimee Milliken, PhD, RN, HEC-C; Boston College, Connell School of Nursing
  • Jehanna Peerzada, MD; Boston Children's Hospital, South Shore Hospital
  • Ellen Robinson, RN, PhD, HEC-C; Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Lindsay Semler, DNP, RN, CCRN, HEC-C; Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • David Sontag, JD, MBE, HEC-C; Beth Israel Lahey Health
  • Basel Tarab, MD, MBE, MHA; Winchester Hospital
  • Lisa Taylor, JD, MS, HEC-C; Boston Children’s Hospital
  • Michael Casey, APRN-BC, FNP; Dana Farber Cancer Institute